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The producers of Soldiers of Conscience (Catherine Ryan and Gary Weinberg) claim that theirs "is not a film that tells an audience what to think, nor is it about the situation in Iraq today. Instead, it tells a bigger story about human nature and war," and the mental burdens carried by soldiers who have killed in combat.1
Notwithstanding the producers' claims that they do not intend to tell their audience what to think about the War in Iraq, Soldiers of Conscience illustrates Bruce Gronbeck's thesis that documentary is never neutral but is an inherently rhetorical medium.21 argue that the film has a three-fold strategy: to heroicize the soldier who refuses to fight as a righteous and courageous "fighter" for principle; to criticize current U.S. policy which denies conscientious objector status to those who argue that their service in Iraq constitutes a war crime; and to emphasize the dangers of training troops to engage in reflexive killing.
The Courage of Resistance
Soldiers of Conscience deconstructs the stereotype that soldiers who seek C.O. status are fakers, cowards, and traitors. The documentary tracks four soldiers who rejected combat after becoming horrified by the brutality of war in Iraq and, in particular, civilian casualties. Two of the soldiers, Joshua Casteel and Aiden Delgado, were granted C.O. status; however, Kevin Benderman and Camilo Mejía were convicted of desertion and served time in jail before being dishonorably discharged.3 In this "character documentary," we get to know each man through photos of his childhood and his family. Each soldier tells his story in his own words in close-up scenes in which he looks us straight in the eye.
As Lawrence Suid observes, the historical legacy of the Hollywood War film is that "combat is exciting" and "a place to prove masculinity." 4 In pro-war films about America's "good war," World War II, God fights on the side of the brave American soldier. John Henry Smihula posits that there is "a peculiarly Christian feature" to the willing sacrifice of the soldiers who shed their blood in World War II "as if the spilling of men's blood will wash away the sins of the world."' In Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998), blood tinged waves lap against the shore during the landing at Omaha...